In general, when the compound needle is used to knit a knitted fabric such as a bubble stitch requiring an increased number of knitting yarns for forming a single loop (stitch), the loop is held on the slider tongue of the compound needle repeatedly several times. The loop retained on the slider tongue sometimes slips off therefrom to cause knitting faults. The slippage of the loop from the end of the slider tongue into the hook before the loop is knocked over presents problems for knitting stitches, not peculiar to the bubble stitch.
There was proposed a compound needle wherein the slider tongue is provided, at a front end thereof, with a small projection, to provide a hard slippage of the loop before knocked over (Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 1(1989)-54459). The small projection provides the advantage of well holding the loop on the slider tongue, while on the other hand, it provides the disadvantage of providing a hard release of the loop from the slider tongue to hinder the loop from being knocked over.
In the light of this disadvantage, the applicant of this application previously proposed an improved compound needle in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP00-03127. In that compound needle, the slider tongue is provided, at a front end thereof, with a drop-loop-preventing step to prevent a loop held on the tongue from slipping off therefrom during knitting and also the hook is provided, on an outer edge portion thereof extending from a front end of the hook toward a top thereof, with a loop escape surface of a gentle slant, such that when the hook is closed by the tongue, the drop-loop-preventing step is covered by the loop escape surface to facilitate release (knock-over) of the loop formed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a further improved compound needle of a knitting machine by making improvements on the compound needle described in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP00-03127 in such a manner that the loop can be well prevented from slipping off from the front end of the slider tongue into the hook until it is knocked over and also can be released therefrom further smoothly when it is knocked over.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compound needle of a knitting machine that can allow a further smooth knock-over of the loop without negative effects on the yarn feed requirements for the capture of the yarn fed to the needle by the hook.